On Friday morning, oil prices for benchmark brands are being adjusted downward after rising to their highest levels since early November following the results of previous trading.
The price of May futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:00 a.m. was $85.23 per barrel, which is $0.19 (0.22%) lower than at the close of the previous session. On Thursday, these contracts rose by $1.39 (1.7%) to $85.42 per barrel.
Quotes for WTI futures for April in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in the morning fell by $0.17 (0.21%) to $81.09 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, the price of these contracts rose by $1.54 (1.9%) to $81.26 per barrel.
Since the beginning of the week, oil has risen in price by about 4% due to signs of high demand in the United States and bullish analysts’ forecasts for fuel consumption this year, Trading Economics writes.
The International Energy Agency on Thursday raised its forecast for oil demand in 2024 by 200 thousand barrels per day to 103.2 million bpd. In particular, the estimate of oil consumption in the first quarter was improved by 400 thousand bpd to 102 million bpd, the forecast for the second and third quarters was increased by 200 thousand bpd to 103 and 104 million bpd, respectively.
